By Odd Chance
by Ledgeman
Summary: With a rekindled flame burning within, Clementine left Richmond behind in search of AJ. It has now been several years since the two were reunited. The now older teenager struggles with the gift and burden of assuming the title of a mentor as the duo traverse the harsh countryside together. After a tough situation forces Clementine's hand, an unlikely event catches them off guard.
1. The Cycle

The soft breeze steadily weaved itself throughout the brush of the trees, rustling and emitting a silk-like melody that echoed down the waterway. However today it was accompanied by the quaint sound of singing, two young voices calmly humming the lyrics of an old nursery rhyme.

 _Row, row, row your boat,_

 _Gently down the stream._

 _Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily,_

 _Life is but a dream._

 _Row, row, row your boat,_

 _Gently down the stream._

 _If you see a crocodile,_

 _Don't forget to scream._

Two figures could be seen occupying a corroded wooden pier that bridged the small lake together. One of them could be recognised by their ball cap, bearing an unmissable 'D' shaped symbol which had long since been worn down with time. The other was smaller in stature and much younger, hunched over as he sat on the edge of the pier, seemingly withdrawn from the song as he continued to stare downwards.

With one forceful lunge Clementine drove the handmade spear into the water, followed by a decisive splash. A small puddle of blood clouded the water as it rippled onwards down the stream. It had plunged through the flesh of a slightly more than average sized fish. The young teen slowly pulled it out of the water as she slanted her eyes, examining their future meal as it slowly began to cease thrashing.

That last disjointed verse from AJ had sounded off; she was picking up a tinge of hesitance. Nonetheless, his unresponsive demeanour was enough to tell that something was on his mind, at least. She turned her head towards him, a soft smirk on her lips as she spoke. "Come on, you love this one."

AJ hadn't been bothered to face her, still hunched over as he stared at the current beneath him.

It was obvious that he preferred to revel in his thoughts rather than talk right now, a brief moment of silence continued to pass before he finally managed to speak up in a rather dismissive tone. "It's a bad song. You shouldn't scream, ever. Screaming brings monsters."

And what could she say to that? He wasn't wrong after all, when it came to the here and now. Back then this is what they used to sing at school. She remembered when all the kids in class used to sing it in unison. That rhythm being something she could never forget any time soon.

"Yeah, you're right, kiddo. This song was written before, when kids didn't have to worry about monsters." She spoke before setting down the spear and making her way to his side.

"I don't remember a time without monsters." AJ spoke as he glanced somberly below him, Clementine only now managing to pick up on what seemed to be grabbing his attention. A rotted corpse, eyes glazed white and lifeless as it lay in the river, staring up towards them. It was a fate worse than death, a fate that she'd use every fibre in her being to keep from happening to AJ.

"I know…" She spoke less cheerfully now, knowing that deep down this wasn't fair for him, or any kid his age for that matter. Clementine drifted her gaze away from the corpse, slowly lowering herself as she now sat beside him, her legs dangling off the edge along with his.

"What's the first rule?" This time her tone harboured a certain sense of weight behind her words, Clementine's lighthearted demeanour shifting into something akin to stern. These were the type of things that he _needed_ to know. It was the worst feeling in the world to keep looking back on things and _wish_ you could change them, especially knowing they happened because of you. She wouldn't want to wish that feeling on anyone. Clem didn't want that for AJ. All she wanted was for him to avoid making the same mistakes she did at his age.

"Never go alone," the young boy replied almost instantly, the rules having been drilled into his head at this point.

"Never go alone, right. And what do we do when the monsters come?" She spoke whilst averting her gaze from the corpse, now looking over to him as she raised her eyebrow.

AJ, without haste, reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small silver revolver. He pushed out the cylinder with a click, double checking the bullets that were chambered inside, before pushing it back in. "We… shoot them in the head," he attempted to speak confidently as he sent a wary glance towards Clementine.

"And what else?" She pushed further, AJ briefly going silent in response. This rule being one of the few he always wanted to think about the least.

With hesitation smeared across his face, he finally pushed himself to respond.

"Always save the last bullet for yourself."

And with that, Clementine ceased the questioning, only for a moment. This next one wouldn't be easy to even suggest and she knew that. But, it was without a doubt the most important rule AJ just couldn't ignore. If it ever _did_ come down to it… if by some chance whatever was around the corner would cut her life short… he needed to be prepared for that too, life without her.

"Now. What do you do… if _**I**_ get bit?"

Silence. All but the soft trickling of the water passing by the rocks could be heard by the duo. Alvin Junior's eyes diverting themselves away from Clem's yet again as she asked the question he was dreading.

"AJ," Clem spoke firmly in a bid to get him to answer properly after getting no response. "What do you do?"

"I…" The boy stuttered, knowing what he should be saying… however the courage to actually _say it_ was something else entirely. "I know what I should do… but, it's not like… it's going to happen. We'll keep being careful, the both of us. Because we know how to deal with the monsters."

It was a start, but not necessarily what Clementine was hoping to hear. It was still pretty clear he wasn't very confident with the idea of the possibility. "But you know the monsters aren't the only thing we have to deal with."

AJ twisted his lips for a moment before finally answering. "Yeah… but, not _everyone_ out there wants to hurt people. There's others like us. That just want to find a safe place. Right?"

Growing up without company must've been hard for him, especially given the fact that he didn't even have a taste of what things used to be like. But getting lonely still wasn't an excuse to get reckless, and that's what he needed to know. "Maybe, but we're not gonna go looking for them, because not everyone's _us_ , AJ. That's why we can't just trust people so easily. Understand?"

"Yeah… I guess so." AJ finally gave in, not really wanting to push the notion of potentially making more friends any further. It was easy for Clementine to pick up on the fact that he was starting to at least get curious about other survivors.

Nonetheless, Clem was starting to feel the chill arriving in the air the lower the sun got. They'd spent enough time here already. She'd drop the morbid talk for now, in favour of getting AJ to focus more. And with that, she reached over and rustled his hair to get him moving.

"C'mon, goofball. Lets go." She spoke before standing back up, heading over to the backpack she had laid down earlier, unzipping it and pulling out an old towel. "We gotta find a place to stay before nightfall."

"Coming..." AJ sighed out, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the nickname. Taking one last glance at the rotten calamity staring at him from below. He averted his gaze as he stood up, heading to where Clementine was. Seeing her knelt down and messing around with the backpack, he spotted a glimpse of something else sticking out of the side. "Clem, do you think we can… finish that book tonight?"

"Hm?" Clementine murmured right as she pulled the fish off of the spear with a forceful tug, beginning to wrap the towel around it so their catch wouldn't dirty in her bag. "Oh. You mean The Gruffalo?" She looked behind her now, seeing him slowly nodding, as to which she responded with a smirk. "Of course we can, but only if we set up camp tonight before it gets too late. So I'll need your help with that first, 'kay?"

"Okay!" His eyes lit up at the thought. It wasn't because he thought the book was _that_ good, and not because he even liked reading that much. It was just the only time of the day where they'd be able to talk about _other_ things. He'd ask and then Clementine would start telling him stories about his mom and dad, and the people that used to keep him safe when he was even littler. No matter how many times she told them they were always just as interesting as the first time. Nonetheless, it was something he always looked forward to, maybe even his favorite part of the day.

Without haste, the duo swiftly packed their things as they made their way off the pier, intent on moving on to their next destination to settle down for the night. By now it was a cycle, forever to be repeated.

* * *

The next morning had swiftly arrived as fast as the last one had. After stomping out whatever little of the kindling had remained from overnight, the duo were yet again on the move in an effort to keep their daily routine going. With a bellyful of cooked fish and The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson now complete, the two pairs of legs cautiously trudged through the shrubbery. Clementine always made an active effort to try and avoid travelling on roadways or open areas, preferring to stick behind the cover the woods provided.

"So if we get a working car, we can find another book store?"

"What? You didn't like The Gruffalo?" Clementine raised her eyebrow in response to the question, a coy smirk smeared across her face.

AJ couldn't hold eye contact with her; it was just impossible. If he lied right now, she'd know. "Well…" He spoke warily, mulling over his thoughts for a few moments before continuing. "It was kinda silly… How does a mouse make a huge monster like that run away…? The Gruffalo could've just eaten him whenever he wanted..."

"It _was_ kinda over the top. I think it's less about… what did happen, and more about the message in the story." Clementine wasn't so sure of it herself, but that's what mom and dad always used to say about these kinds of books.

"Message?" AJ asked curiously, brow raised ever so slightly.

He was showing an interest, and Clem wasn't about to brush that aside. Maybe a bit of talk would serve as a good time killer, given they still had quite a walk to get through. "Well, the mouse knew the Gruffalo was super dumb, so he knew how to take advantage. Even though he was a lot smaller, he was smarter. And _that's_ how he survived."

"Oh, I get it… so kinda like how we deal with the monsters?"

" _Exactly_. Because we're smart and _they're_ not We're smarter than _all_ of them."

"Right." A small confident smirk emanated from the young boy as the duo shared a smile. However, not a moment later, something caught the boy's eye, his steps gradually beginning to slow before he came to a full halt.

"Y'know… a friend used to tell me-" Clementine paused for a moment, halting her speech suddenly when she didn't see AJ walking by her side anymore. Instead she turned around to see him standing there, staring at something.

"AJ? What are you doing?" Her brows furrowed, tilting her head as she raised an eyebrow, wondering what had him so distracted again, he certainly had a tendency to do this a lot.

The young boy was entranced by something, akin to a deer caught in a car's headlights. It wasn't long before he curiously looked up to Clementine "What's that?" He pointed to a rather small opening in some of the trees.

The teen squinted her eyes in the direction of his finger, managing to spot out what had goofball so excited. In a rather odd spot in the shrubbery laid a lone thin tree branch, sticking upwards directly from the ground, part of it submerged into the dirt. As she slowly made her way towards it, she scanned her surroundings carefully.

"Someone's stuck this in the ground, probably a marking for something." That was her best guess. This was in no way, shape, or form, nature's work. Someone had deliberately placed that there… which meant, at the very least… it was possible someone could've been in the area lately.

For a moment, Clementine pondered maybe booking it in the opposite direction. That way it was less likely they'd run into the person that put that there. But she wouldn't do that before at least checking it out.

"Hang tight for a sec." Clementine spoke as she knelt down, focusing on the general proximity of where the stick was protruding upwards, she scooped a bit of it up in her hands, feeling it's texture for a moment. She then began to press down on the ground around the stick. _Seriously?_

"I think something's buried here." She finally spoke, although to her it was no reason to be excited. Right now, it was all the more reason to be cautious. There was no doubt about it, just by feeling how hollow and dense the ground felt around the stick, it was easy to tell a hole had been dug there and then filled back up, no doubt about it. Finally, she stood back up, taking hold of the stick and pressing it downwards. She could feel some resistance on the other end… whatever it was, it was too soft to be a body.

"And I don't think it's a corpse…" Although it was apparent she was still very wary, a tinge of surprise in her tone was evident, initially thinking someone might've just buried a body here.

AJ's eyes almost sprung wide in excitement, shifting his weight from one foot to another in anticipation as he watched Clementine examine the site from behind. "Really? Can we… dig it up?"

Clementine stood back up now, hands on hips as a sigh escaped from her lips, looking back and forth between the stick and AJ. The urge to say _no_ was abundantly clear and written all over the girl's face. AJ's eyes locked on to her, piercing her with a begging pout. Finally… Clementine gave in, tilting her head down and rolling her eyes. "Alright, fine. Give me a hand with this." She spoke begrudgingly before pulling the stick out of the ground and throwing it aside, the opportunity to find something useful was just too good to pass up this time.

"Cool!" AJ immediately dropped to his knees without haste, beginning the hack away at at the dirt with his fingers, a bit of it almost flying into Clem's face.

"Easy, kiddo." She huffed out a chuckle whilst trying to cover her eyes from the storm of dirt AJ was digging up. Before long she joined his side and began to dig as well. _We're seriously gonna need to wash our hands after this._

The more they dug, the more obvious it was that someone had really put a lot of effort into making this thing. As a couple of minutes passed, the undertips of their fingernails were clogged with muck and grime. _Dammit…_ Clementine grunted, scrunching up her face as she tried to flick the dirt out of her fingernails every so often to avoid that gross feeling.

"I... I see something!" AJ cheered, even though this wasn't a full scale treasure hunt, it sure did come close to being as exciting as one.

"Alright, I think... I can grab it now." There wasn't much left to dig up, her hand practically driving through what was left of the dirt and grabbing a hold of some kind of material… it was a strap. Clementine pulled upwards with as much force as she could until a dirt covered object finally unlodged itself and was elevated to the surface. Clementine brought it to her face, the object dangling from her hand. _No way._

" _It's… a bag."_ Clementine sounded just as surprised as she was confused. Without a second thought, she quickly dusted it off excitedly and scrambled to get the zipper undone, quickly opening it to examine the contents. _What the hell?_

It was lightly packed, but the items inside were… useful. Bandages, three bottles of water, a few cans of tuna, some matches… a magazine for a pistol that had some ammunition inside. She'd find out if it was compatible with her gun the moment they were away from there. There was even some kind of…. music player attached to some headphones in there.

"So, what's inside?" AJ asked, not being able to take the anticipation any longer, although the look on Clementine's face said it all… it was rare that he saw her _this_ taken off-guard.

"Things that are going to help..." She murmured in response, her gaze not leaving the inside of the bag. She was still amazed at the fact that someone would be stupid enough to actually _leave_ this stuff out here for the taking. Regardless, these supplies would make the next couple of days _a lot_ easier on them. They were struggling to find resources enough as it was already, there was no way she was leaving this here. "Good spot, AJ! You know the drill. Get your bag and let's pack it in."

"Do you think… they'll come back for this soon?" The boy questioned with perhaps a hint of remorse in his tone. He supposed he secretly hoped for a bunch of old toys or books… something people wouldn't desperately need to survive.

"If they have enough of this stuff to be burying it out in the middle of nowhere, they clearly don't need it as much as we do. So don't worry about it."

"Okay..."

And that was the end of that. Without another word from AJ, the duo quickly began to indulge themselves with their new findings, although one of them seemingly much less enthusiastic than the other as they crammed most of it inside of their backpacks until nothing remained. Clementine slung the now much heavier backpack over her shoulder with a grunt as she finally stood up.

"Chin up. After we find a place to hunker down maybe we can get that music player wor-"

The teen took a casual step forward as they began to leave, her speech then being cut off by a loud _SNAP._ Her eyes widened in horror, her mind not being able to comprehend what was going on in the heat of the moment. The snap of a twig was the last thing she heard before she felt the tight embrace of thick rope tighten around her ankles.

"Fuck!" She cried out as out a massive contraption with cinder blocks held together by some kind of netting fell down from above, serving as a counterweight as she felt her legs buckle beneath her, followed by her weight leaving the ground. The girl was launched upwards in a spiral as she felt her body twist around. The backpack she was wearing fell straight off her shoulders, as well as her hat, the bag hitting the autumn leaves below with a crunch. Her breathing was rapid and her heart raced as she finally opened her eyes… realising she was now hanging upside down, the rope holding her firmly in place by her legs as she looked up towards them.

"Clem!" AJ cried out in sheer disbelief, running to his now strung up carer in a panic. "I'm so, so sorry...! I - I… It's my fault! I-"

"I should've known it was too good to be true…" Clementine cut him off. "This is on me." She winced, scrunching up her eyes in pain as she looked back up to her feet, firmly tucked away in the noose shaped rope that held them together. She could feel the material rubbing against her ankles, like it was constricting any blood flow from getting through. Every passing second it was starting to hurt more. "Are you okay?" She finally asked, averting her upside down gaze to AJ.

"I'm fine but- you… how am I going to get you out!?"

"Shh, relax. Just-" Clementine paused, _Stupid, you're so fucking stupid, Clem!_ She thought before attempting to compose herself. If she started panicking, it was only natural that AJ would follow suit… and she didn't need that right now. There was no way only one person could have set this whole trap up alone…

"See where those blocks fell down in that netting over there? That's what's keeping me up here. Get your knife and cut that rope."

"O - Okay, I got it." He stammered out as confidently as he could, of course coming off as a total mess He scurried over to the counterweight, digging around in his pack before pulling out a small knife, grabbing hold of one end of the rope and beginning to cut away at it.

"Don't tire yourself out cutting too hard, let the knife do the work." Clementine suggested, trying her damndest not to come off as impatient after a brief moment of silence passed.

"It's… really thick." This knife sucked, and he was cutting away at the dense rope as hard as he could… it felt like he was barely making any progress at all.

"Take your time, there's no-" A crunch in the leaves distracted her for a moment, her head darted off towards the trees, although they obscured her view… there was no doubt about it. Someone was coming… right away she waved off AJ, mouthing the words _GO!_ repeatedly until he finally caught on. She watched as he reluctantly picked up her gun off the ground and darted away, quickly taking cover behind a nearby tree. She was completely helpless like this, and it was all her own damn fault. Clementine let out a small huff of breath, closing her eyes for a moment in an effort to calm herself as she listened to the footsteps get closer and closer.

"Well… someone's in _a lot_ of trouble now, aren't they?" An unfamiliar voice taunted her as its figure finally emerged from the treeline. Out stepped a young man with a smug look on his face, seemingly taking amusement, or pride, in the sight of the strung-up teen.

Clementine stayed silent, fighting the urge to gulp down the lump forming in her throat. He... looked and sounded around her age, possibly african american. The first thing she noticed was his large brown coat that went to his thighs, and his brown hair was made up of small dreads that reached down no further than his cheeks.

"So, this was _you_ then?" The girl asked, squinting her eyes at the other boy, who returned her gaze with a condescending smile.

"Yeah, really didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to get caught in it." He placed his hands on his hips, that smile of his never fading as he looked over to the dug up hole. "But I guess that's what you get for trying to mess around with my shit."

"I… thought it was abandoned. Look, you can have it all back. Just cut me down and I'm gone."

"Nah, don't think so. You took a peek at my stuff, so I think I'm gonna do the same. Only fair." His tone remained carefree and nonchalant with a sarcastic tinge, scoffing out a chuckle as he shook his head. The unnamed kid began to make his way towards Clementine's bag, kneeling down and then unzipping it as he began to dig around and take the items out, including some of hers.

"That's- You're taking everything I have!?" She could feel her anger beginning to bubble up within. This guy's overconfident and snarky demeanour had her sick to her stomach, coupled with the time she was spending upside down. She didn't know how much more she could take of this.

"You were gonna do the same to me. Only difference between us is that you prefer doing it behind people's backs. So cry me an upside down river." He rolled his eyes as he continued to dig around inside of the bag, before grabbing hold of her old hat, his brow raised as he held it up towards Clementine. "This thing looks like it's seen better days. You considered ditching it yet? " He sneered in a rather pretentious manner.

"Don't you fucking touch that!" Clementine's nostrils flared up as she could feel herself beginning to lose control at the sight of him holding the only piece of her past she had left. There was nothing she could do as she saw it go into someone else's hands, except for hopelessly writhe around in anger.

"Or what? You'll come down from there and do something about it? That's real cute." The young teen mocked her again, seemingly getting a kick out of seeing her so riled up. "You can relax. I don't have any use for your private crap. Same goes for… whatever's left of your hat..."

Clementine forcefully bit her tongue lest she'd throw more insults at him. She'd been effectively caught off guard and now _he_ had control of the situation. She watched as he dug around in her backpack, taking whatever he pleased before he got up and went to the backpack her and AJ had originally found, digging through it before she saw that smile finally drop. He turned towards her, his gaze attempting to suppress something akin to irritation.

"My MP3 player. It was in there, and it's not in _your_ backpack, so where is it?"

"How should I know? With your crap job at hiding it, it's almost like you were asking someone to take it. Maybe someone else already did?" She lied, of course.

"I have my reasons for putting that there, but it's really none of your business… so, I'll ask again. _where_ is it?"

That was her bargaining chip… that MP3 player. If she could lull him into a false sense of security, then maybe she'd have a chance at catching him off-guard. She still had her small knife in her jacket. It was just a matter of getting him close enough to actually use it. As she hung there, a brief moment of silence passed as her eyes drifted towards the left, thinking… before she finally looked back towards him.

"How about this? You cut me down and I'll tell you where it is. Deal?"

"Y'know, on second thought. Maybe your private shit _can_ be useful." Throwing aside his usual lighthearted nature, he was starting to get irritated with her complacency as he brushed aside her attempts to bargain.

She knew how to try her luck, he'd give her that. But he was patient, and he'd get it out of her even if it took all damn day. He casually reached over and picked up her hat again, holding it up to her face. "What I wanna know is… just _how_ much you really care about _this?_ Must be a lot right?"

She tried not to react, to give him anything to work with. She was failing at it, horribly. Her eyes trailed his hand as he dangled her ball cap in front of her. Her heart shrieking at the mere of sight of it, she forced her mouth shut. Somehow hoping he'd move on from it.

"Guess not, so it won't matter if I just…" He placed his hand into his back pocket, withdrawing a small lighter as he held it underneath the hat, flicking the flame on and holding it under.

"Okay!" She reached outwards in desperation, finally dropping the facade. Grief ridden all over her face. "Just- please don't," she mumbled out, mentally grimacing as she reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out the MP3 player in defeat.

"There we go. Was that so hard?" The boy's face looked noticeably pleased as he got the results he was looking for. Placing the hat atop her bag, he then extended one hand out. "Now, throw it over."

Clementine looked at his open hand as she considered her options. Something was stopping him from coming over and searching her. The reason being because he probably didn't trust her enough to get too close, it was the right call on his end, but not the one she needed. So Clementine did the only thing she could think of at the moment, she dropped it on the floor just below her. _Now you have no choice, asshole._

"You're not a very good listener, are you?" The teen spoke with a tinge of frustration. He'd clearly told her to throw it towards him. She was screwing around with him, but getting his player back was the priority at the moment. _Alright, guess I'll bite._ "No funny stuff, don't make me have to loot a corpse." He spoke before reaching into his side belt, pulling out a small revolver as he made his way to the girl.

Clementine remained silent, trying to visualize the action she'd take before it was going to happen. Her eyes trailed him as he slowly approached with his gun trained on her. The closer he crept, the more Clem's heart began to race. There was a big chance that this would go wrong. But even if she did nothing, there was no guarantee he'd even let her go… this was the only way in her mind she'd have a chance of getting back to AJ. He knelt down below her, gun still trained on her as he looked down.

That was her window.

"There better not be any scratches on i-" His speech was cut off as Clementine quickly grabbed his arm, using all her strength to divert the barrel of the gun away from her. "What the fuck!" He cried out as he pulled backwards, trying to release himself from her grip as he used both of his hands in a frantic attempt to wrestle the gun away. She quickly reached behind her with her other hand, grabbing a hold of her knife as she pulled it out and swung at him as hard as she could.

Right as the sound of the cold hard metal of the knife tore through the other boy's jacket, the gun went off, not before managing to slice through the fabric and cut his arm before she let go to cover her ear, the other kid stumbling backwards. Clementine squeezed her eyes shut and let out a muffled cry. The ringing sensation being too much to bear, the bullet had narrowly missing her ear. She'd cut him… but she'd missed the killing blow.

"You idiot...!" He grimaced as he got back up to his feet, the gun still in his hand. His left hand cradling the wound just below his right shoulder. She'd got him good. He winced… examining the damage… luckily for him, the cut wasn't too deep. He'd had enough at this point, pointing his revolver directly at the girl with the knife still in her hand. "Drop it!"

"You left me no choice, asshole!" She yelled back, still in pain as she had no other choice to comply. Aggressively throwing the knife down to the side, now using both her hands to press against her ear.

"I was gonna let you go after you gave it back… but now-"

" **STOP!** " A third voice cried out, AJ stepping out from behind the tree with Clementine's gun drawn on the older teen. The young boy tried to stop his hands from shaking, but the effort proved futile.

"AJ, no!" Clementine yelled out, outstretching her hand. She'd hoped that he'd run off by now… the last thing she needed was him getting involved in this mess and getting hurt. All because of her.

For a moment, the unidentified teen jumped back, holding the revolver towards the source of the noise in a panic, before realising who he was pointing it at. "Oh… another thing you were hiding… A little too small for a rescue party, don't you think?" He noticeably relaxed himself, a smirk returning to his face as he shot Clementine a glance.

"L - let her go! O - or I'll shoot. I will!" AJ threatened with a small quiver, taking a step closer with the pistol raised.

"Wow, getting stuck with a kid this early? My heart goes out to you, honestly." The teen chuckled in AJ's face, sending an amused glance towards Clementine, before returning it to the young boy before him. "Tell me kid, that thing even loaded?" He asked, brow raised. It was usually either two things… people didn't have the stones to pull the trigger, or they didn't have the ammo. And it was definitely one of the two, otherwise by now he'd have a bullet hole in him.

If AJ wasn't already scared, now he was absolutely petrified. Clementine's life was in his hands… in the hands of a gun that didn't have any ammunition left inside… and her captor had already somehow caught on. The tension in the air was cut off by an all too familiar sound of groaning, a shambling corpse that had been attracted by the earlier gunshot made its way into view, heading towards its supposed next meal.

"Looks like we got company. Tell you what? Why don't you go ahead and prove me wrong and shoot this dead guy here. Before she has your friend for lunch." Without giving the young boy a chance to answer, he whistled and waved his hands around, moving behind Clementine whilst he attracted the corpse. "Hey ugly, over here!"

Clementine watched in horror as the walker began to shamble her way, her eyes widening as it directed its attention on to her, beginning to make its way over. Without her weapon… and tied up like this… it was over if it got to her. Her only hope now was that AJ didn't get himself hurt trying to get in the way of that. She was desperate now, so she turned to her last resort, begging.

"Please, I'm the one that took your things. He hasn't done ANYTHING! Leave him out of this!"

"C'mon, any second now it's gonna be chow down time for our dead buddy here. Shoot, like you said you would before." The teen crossed his arms, ignoring Clementine as he focused his attention on the boy, glancing off to the side every fews seconds or so to get a beat on where the walker was.

The gun shook in his hands, AJ froze as he watched the monster approach, until it was only a half dozen feet away from Clementine. He didn't know what to do… any minute that corpse would be on top of her to shred her to pieces. His lower lip began to quiver as the reality began to sink in… _he knew_ it was empty. "I - I can't…" He sobbed, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

 _No bullets, figures._ The teen finally sighed out as he shook his head, arms now crossed as he watched the walker stumble over, not far from the girl now. The thought did however cross his mind that maybe he was taking this little joke a tad too far, like he usually did… He rolled his eyes as he saw the little boy start to get teary-eyed. _Oh for the love of…_

"Alright, Alright… Just- don't start the waterworks. You'll attract more… if they're not already on their way." He sighed out as he gave in, reaching for the side of his belt and pulling out a small hatchet. He swiftly got in between the walker and Clementine, with one massive swing downwards he plunged the axe into its head with a crunch. The groans soon subsiding as it fell to the ground with a harsh thud. He then walked over to the netted cinderblocks they'd set up as the counterweight and began to hack away with his hatchet, with a few swings the rope snapped, sending Clementine tumbling down to the ground, freeing her.

Clementine winced as she hit the ground with a thud, her shoulder taking the brunt of the fall. The first thing she grabbed was her hat, placing it back atop her head before freeing her legs from the rope, rubbing her ankles, which had red rings around them at this point. "Clem!" AJ yelped as he ran into her arms, she pulled him in close. Shutting her eyes as she sighed out in relief, in the moment grateful for him simply being okay right now… _Thank God._

The nameless teen approached the two survivors, briefly giving the cut below his shoulder a second glance. He hadn't been trumped like that in a long time, so he supposed there was a bit of respect there, even if she did almost kill him. Clementine however didn't seem to share the thought, laying down a vicious gaze on the other boy.

"Easy." He spoke in an attempt to come off as non-threatening. He slowly tucked his revolver behind the back of his pants, before doing the same with his hatchet. "See? No weapons. Let's just chill out… I'll admit, maybe I did take that a little too far, bu-" His speech was abruptly cut off as Clementine was having none of it, she rose to her feet, tackling the other boy over as she dug her knee into his chest, pinning him to the ground as she pressed her knife to his throat, a near barbaric look in her eye.

"Give me ONE good reason why I shouldn't just carve you up and be done with it after the shit you pulled?!" She spoke through gritted teeth, tone like venom.

The teen kept his gaze to the sky, fearing that if he looked towards the girl that knife would start to pierce his throat. He gulped… silent for a moment. "You can call me Louis, by the way." Even as he gasped for air, he still attempted to be humorous.

"If you're still open to making that deal… I could show you a place where you and the kid might be safe. Same place where I'm from, actually…. Only kids are allowed there, so you'd probably fit in pretty well... But if you find slitting my throat more appealing, by all means, it's your life."

Clementine scoffed at his little spiel of bullshit, going on about safe places like they just grew on trees, this whole area was a wasteland. "Even if that _was_ true, why the hell do you think we'd go anywhere with _you_?"

She death-stared him, expecting a response… but Louis fell silent. All she felt was a cold chill going down her spine as she looked up, hearing the sound of several guns being prepped as multiple figures emerged from the treeline, all aiming their weapons at her.

Louis' eyes fanned over to the side for a moment, a smirk starting to form on his face yet again. "Well, with the way it's starting to look… you might not have a choice."

* * *

Author's Notes: Alright we made it to the end : ) So yeah long story short this is pretty much my take on a possible starting point for the final season, some details were altered so consider this an AU of sorts with inspiration from the yet to come canon story of TFS. Even though there will be characters in this story who's personalities we don't know about yet I decided to go off what little information we were given about them since I thought it'd make a nice challenge to write. Hopefully ya'll liked it, and we'll see where it goes from here : )

Special shout out to my buddies Art and Dot for continually beta reading the chapters to this story, thanks a bunch!


	2. Same Old Story

"Back up!" One of the other teenagers screamed out, interrupting them. He bore a scruffy jacket with a large red letter reading 'E' on the front, his hair was shaved on either side and was accompanied by an unmissable blonde mullet. Another girl stood near him, she had short blond hair that parted in equal measure, covering her ears on both sides, looking just as… if not even sterner than the former. Both, again… looked to be around her age.

Clementine could feel her frustration bubbling to the surface, so much so that she felt like pressing the knife even further into Louis' neck until it started slicing down into the marrow of his bone. He made her look like an idiot, put AJ in harm's way… and now there were two more people who had arrived, presumably his friends. Their pistols were trained on her head, she was outnumbered, outgunned. It was over. Anything she did now would only serve towards putting AJ in danger yet again.

Cursing under her breath, Clementine shot Louis a poisonous glance before she finally released him, getting off him, she took a few steps back before aggressively throwing her knife to the side. Scowling in pure anger at the strangers as AJ ran towards her, clutching her side as he hid behind her and watched on, hoping they weren't in even _more_ trouble now.

Louis rubbed the front of his neck with a small wince before attempting to get back on to his feet, however, the mulleted boy unexpectedly diverted his attention off Clem and stormed straight over towards the boy in question. "You stupid fucking MORON!" He yelled out as he forcefully tugged Louis upwards by the sleeve rather aggressively as he 'helped' him to his feet.

"I told you, I TOLD you to stop screwing around alone in the woods with your head up your fucking ass!" He continued his tirade as he got in Louis' face.

"Relax, Marlon," Louis spoke calmly as he tugged his arm away from the other boy's grip, beginning to dust himself off. "You guys didn't have to go jumping in. I had it under control."

"Not what it looked like from over here." The blonde haired teenager shot him an irritated frown, still keeping her gun trained on Clementine as Marlon continued to reprimand Louis.

"Pull this stunt again and next time we won't jump in. I'm sick of you not following simple as shit instructions." Marlon threatened, his voice lowered this time, only for the sake of not drawing any more freaks to the area. Now deciding it was time to focus his attention on the two intruders, he took a few steps forward, directly facing them as he decided to start the questioning.

"Let's just cut to the chase. What the hell is your business around here?" Marlon spoke, trying his hardest to repress just how annoyed he felt at the current predicament Louis had pulled them into.

Clementine slanted her eyes in response, whoever this guy was he obviously had a bad temper, which explained the nerve he seemed to have on him. "We were just passing through when I got caught in your trap, I asked him to cut me down so I could give his stuff back and leave…. But your friend had a different idea." The last sentence burning with callous as her eyes burned over to the other boy.

Marlon seemed to follow her glance over to Louis, oddly enough giving him a similar look to the one Clementine had. Muttering a few profanities as he averted his gaze back to the girl.

"Well, like you probably just found out, he's an idiot…"

 _Yeah, I'm aware._ Clementine felt like spitting back, but the sight of their weapons alone was enough to get her to hold her tongue and think twice. She glanced over to AJ who was still holding on to her, looking up with an uncertain and frightened gaze.

"So, are you and the kid with anyone else then?" He broke the silence by asking yet again another question.

"No, we're not, " Clementine admitted, and even if it wasn't true she'd still say the same. With how paranoid this bunch looked it was obvious that they wouldn't be comfortable with potentially being jumped by strangers. Right now her only goal was to convince them to let her go, this whole situation reaffirming her on why she decided to keep away from people in the first place.

"Yeah, I don't trust that." The blonde girl spoke up, seemingly unfazed by the other girl's claims, taking a step forward as she stood beside Marlon now, directing her words at him. "She was close enough to get stuck in one of the traps, she might even already know about the school."

"You never trust anything, Violet." Louis decided to butt in, calling out to her as he was taking the opportunity to repack the dug up bag and assort his supplies, the ones that had almost been taken.

Violet deadpanned straight towards the boy, his nonchalant and careless attitude beginning to piss her off. "I don't know if you've heard of it before but it's a thing called common sense, it's why I've never been flattened out with a knife up against my throat."

"So in other words, you've never had any fun before? Tell me something I _don't_ know." He zipped up the bag, slinging it over his shoulder before stepping back over to his companions. "Listen, I, on the other hand, think she's telling the truth."

Violet's head swung forward, almost as if she was confused with what she considered to be his sheer stupidity. "Are you dense? If she's with a group and we leave her out here, first thing they'll do is try and follow us back. We've been over this before."

Marlon shot his gaze over to Louis, even though this whole shitshow was his fault he _was_ willing to hear him out. "She almost killed you."

Louis wasn't going to bother justifying how she wasn't close to killing him, that'd be another hour-long argument. Instead, he just focused on the nitty-gritty. "I'm not saying we let her go. Before you guys butted in we were making a deal to bring her back. Y'know, in exchange for the whole misunderstanding?"

"You- what?!" Marlon spat out, his brows furrowing as frustration began to wash over his face again. _Without even consulting me first?_

Clementine had been standing there for what felt like an eternity, dumbfounded by the back and forth going on between these kids. For a moment there it felt like being right back at the Motor Inn. Seeing _this_ many people her age in one place… she never ever thought that'd even be possible. It crossed her mind that maybe Louis' story about their group being only kids was starting to at least add up.

No. It was stupid… _this_ was stupid. She needed to get away from these people… before they drew her onto another sinking ship of a group. "We weren't making any deal. Just let us go our own way, we have _better_ things to do than follow you around."

Marlon's gaze fell to the ground, his eyes darting around as he tried to clear his head. Everyone's well being back home was _his_ responsibility, rest assured he'd be having a serious fucking talk with Louis when they got back, but right now… there was no choice. "Group or no group, I'm _not_ taking any chances again." He spoke to no one in particular, before swapping his gaze to the thief in question.

"I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to take you guys back until we're certain your story adds up." He reached into his pocket, throwing the other boy some materials which he caught.

"Louis, _you're_ the one that fucked up, so _you_ deal with her on the walk back. Blindfold and tie her up."

"Fine by me." Louis caught the rope and pieces of fabric with ease, now diverting his attention to the girl with the ballcap and the kid.

 _You're fucking kidding me._ Clementine mentally cursed as she lowered her hands, instinctively placing her hand out towards AJ, signalling him to keep back as she took stance. She only just got out of one trap, and there was no way she'd let them get into another one. Her actions were quickly halted by a small tug on her jacket from behind, a meek yet scared voice addressing her.

"Please…." AJ just couldn't bear to see her fight again, to get hurt. She'd already gotten strung up in that trap because of _him._ "Don't... fight anymore."

"Don't give me an excuse to throw down again, because this time I won't go easy on ya, " Louis spoke with a tinge of wit, _mostly joking,_ perhaps trying to cover up how foolish he looked in front of the rest, he began to approach Clementine with the rope and the blindfold in hand. "Seriously though, just listen to the little guy. Make this easy."

It was inevitable, the amount of time they'd spent on the road by themselves. Clementine always made it her first instinct to adapt to her surroundings, never let anything catch her off guard. She knew it all by now, at least she thought she did. Things had been… tough, on the road. But they'd stayed safe, enough for Clementine to get reckless… she'd slipped up and dropped her guard, and now they were left with no other choice.

"I'm sorry… AJ." She softly stammered out as she tried to hold it together, signing out. They were going to be led to god knows where by a bunch of strangers who for all she knew could've been a bunch of psychos, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She failed him.

Heeding the boys request she looked down, scowling at her feet. The anger directed mostly at herself now, the girl holding out both of her hands. Louis raised his eyebrow in surprise, almost reluctant to get too close lest she attack him again. With caution, he slowly began to wrap the rope around her hands, tying her wrists together, weaving through a few extra knots for good measure… She was crafty, and he wasn't going to rule out the possibility that she'd try to escape. Finally, he moved behind her, shielding the black piece of fabric over her eyes as he tied it to her head, ensuring that there were no peeking spots.

Louis then began to move over to the kid, before he felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Not him. Just the blindfold." Marlon ordered, feeling it wasn't really necessary to be restraining the kid too. As far as he was concerned the dangerous one was the girl. Besides, if they couldn't even watch over one little damn kid, they probably _deserved_ to get found. Louis shrugged as he obliged, tying the second piece of fabric around the boys head. "All good."

"Alright. Let's move." Marlon placed a hand over the boy's shoulder, guiding him onwards. "C'mon kid, up the front with me."

All Clementine could do was hear their footsteps slowly trudge onwards, before feeling what was surely Louis' hand on her shoulder as he began to guide her forward, only resisting the urge to shrug it off, otherwise, she'd be walking into a tree. "My bag." Was the first thing that came to her mind as he started leading her off, fearing they might leave it.

"Yeah. We got it." Louis honestly hadn't been paying attention, nothing in there he needed anyway. "Violet?" He gestured his head over to the bag on the floor.

The teenage girl slowly trailed behind them, her pistol still drawn as she slanted her eyes at Louis' request. They'd already saved his hide and gone out of their way for him enough. Now he was asking her to play the courier?

" _You_ do it." Violet spat back.

"Can't, need both my hands in case she pulls a shifty. And as you can see I'm already carrying one, _you're_ not… so."

"Just do it, and cut the squabble," Marlon called out from the front, not bothering to turn his head around.

Mumbling under her breath Violet let out a sigh through gritted teeth, stomping over to the mystery girl's bag. Before unwillingly slinging it over her shoulder.

Clementine wasn't comfortable with this, this feeling of vulnerability was something she hadn't experienced since…

Regardless, she just had to hope they were keeping their word. Her vision was cut off, and her hands were useless… if walkers showed up things were surely going to get dicey. With every step she tried not to stumble, attempting to compensate for the uneven terrain they were walking on. And to top it all off, she had that asshole right behind her… starting to talk again.

"Well, if you ask me, in hindsight I think things ended up turning out for the best." He spoke to the new girl cheerfully, his tone only serving to come off as annoying and condescending to Clem. She opted not to give him the satisfaction of a response.

"Still mad over the trap thing, right?" He asked, not willing to let up on annoying her. Anything was better than awkward silence the whole way back. And Marlon was too far ahead to hear them anyway.

Luckily enough for him, that was enough to strike a nerve with Clementine.

"What do _you_ think? You left me there to hang and drew a fucking walker towards me!" Of course she was pissed off, more so for what he put AJ through. "All for some sick joke."

"Well I feel kinda bad about it now, if that helps." That part was the truth at least, but thinking about almost losing his mp3 player to a thief, it really didn't sit well with him. It still didn't excuse him for taking it that far just to prove a point, but there was nothing he could do to change it now.

"Think of it like this, you spend hours setting up a trap thinking you'll catch nothing, weeks go by… then when you finally do... Gotta say, it actually feels pretty rewarding. Since I figured we caught a thief, I thought you deserved to hang there a little longer, not that I still do, but… makes sense, right?"

"No, it doesn't. It just makes you an asshole." She tried her best to stop her fists from balling up in her binds, but to little avail.

"Never said I was a saint. Not like you're one to talk after almost dicing me up. I'd say we're even." Louis scoffed in return.

" _I_ wouldn't." Clementine snarled, before a brief moment of silence clouded the air as they continued to walk.

"So I think I caught the kid's name was AJ? I gave you mine already, so you gotta have a name too, then?" He spoke, brow raised, the question serving as an invitation of sorts. However, just as he was expecting, silence filled the air.

"Alright, I'll just have to keep guessing the whole way there. You look like a Stacey… maybe Emma, Charlotte?"

Clementine's brow furrowed under the blindfold, feeling a mixture and of anger and sheer embarrassment. His attempts to force a name out of her were cringe-worthy at best, the worst part is that he wouldn't stop for a good half minute or so, listing all these names that were just way off the mark. He was either bored and going out of his way to annoy her, or something was seriously wrong with him. She was betting on the first.

"It's Clementine! Now can you just stop talking?" The girl tilted her head behind her as they walked, practically begging him.

"Okay… _that_ one I wouldn't have guessed. Well, Clementine… when we get there you'll see I wasn't lying about this place."

* * *

Roughly half an hour had passed, and the cold chill that accompanied the outside began to dissipate as Clem was seemingly led indoors, hearing chatter about using some kind of back passage. The first thing she heard was the creak of what sounded like a rusty gate, before a door opened, walking down various sets of stairs until she was ultimately led into some kind of room.

It felt humid, like it hadn't been used in a while. That explained the odd smell and dust, she sniffled as her nose twitched in response. Her blindfold was pulled off but her hands were kept bound as she was led in.

Marlon waved off Louis and Violet, from here on out the decision on where to take this was up to him. "Alright, stay put here and don't fuck around. I'll be back soon."

"But-" It was too late. Before Clementine could even respond or enquire about AJ, the door was slammed, followed by the click of a key twisting the lock. It was no different from having the blindfold on, pitch black, with not much room to move around. She placed her hands up against the wall, trying to see if there was anything she could use… but it was just cold hard cement. Doubling back she scoured the wall until her hands found the doorknob, trying her hardest to give it a twist. Nothing.

"Dammit." She muttered, her back finding the wall, sliding down into a sitting position as she cuddled her legs. It was like she was right back to square one, that helpless eight-year-old little girl that didn't know any better… getting everyone around her hurt. She promised herself she'd do anything to never let herself feel like that ever again… but just like that, things had gone horribly wrong. All she could think about is where they might've taken AJ… if they were treating him right, what they had planned to do with him. It wasn't like before… no one was coming to save her this time.

It wasn't long before the minutes started to slip by her mind, shifting into what she perceived to be at least an hour, although she couldn't be sure, the only thing she was certain of was that this felt like an eternity. Just as she began to start thinking that she'd been tricked… that they'd just lock her in here and let her starve away… the door yet again clicked open. Clementine squinting her eyes at the small flame of light seemingly coming from a lantern someone was holding. It was Marlon again.

His shoulder pressed up on the side of the door frame, it was obvious to assume he'd heavily discussed this with the others. It took some time on all fronts, but eventually, they agreed on a way to approach this, and it was rather simple. All it required was a bit of honesty.

"Where's AJ? I want to see him." Clementine croaked out, eyes still squinted as she sat there.

"We'll get to that after I make one thing really clear. In case you already haven't noticed, the one that calls the shots around here is me. And I don't give a damn about _what_ Louis thinks. If you're getting out of here, it'll be because _I_ think it's safe." The ruggedly dressed teen enforced, his eyes locked on to the girl in question."Now I'm gonna ask you some things. If I think you're feeding me a load of horse shit, I _swear_ on my dead mother you're gonna regret it. Just a warning: If you thought I was angry before, you ain't seen a fucking thing yet."

Clementine's eyes didn't leave Marlon's, his face partly obscured by the shade, what little she could see aided by the illumination from that lantern. He wasn't bluffing, at least she didn't think so. She averted her gaze to her hands, having no other option but to indulge him.

"Fine." She murmured out.

"Who's the kid to you?" He spoke firmly in an attempt to be direct.

Really? This is what she was going to have to be subjected to? The last thing she wanted was some stranger prying into her life with these heavy questions she wanted no part of delving into. "Does it matter? I'm looking after him, simple as that."

"I'm trying to figure out just what type of person you are, so yeah, it does."

She huffed out an annoyed breath, looking up towards the boy with the odd haircut. "I promised someone I'd look after him. Okay?" At this point, she wasn't sure if it was even a promise… it was just what was expected, the right thing to do.

Marlon carefully studied her, picking apart her responses and thinking them over as he analysed the information. "Okay, so where are they? You did have a group, right? "

 _Don't start with this now._ "A group?"

"You promised someone you'd look after him and the kid doesn't look that old. They still with us?"

"No." She finally answered after a brief pause.

"I'm gonna need more than that."

This was too much, this was just opening up a whole heap of hurt that she just kept bottled up inside. Never intent on letting it out again. It was the same old story, she'd find a place... There'd be people she'd grow to like, to trust. Then one by one, things would always find a way to go downhill… and she'd watch them all… all dwindle down until there was no one left. She was sick of history repeating itself, wanting no part of that pain anymore, it just never worked out… no matter how many times she tried to make it work.

"Take a fucking guess." She spoke with a tinge of frustration, frowning at him now as silence followed shortly after.

He squinted his eyes, as much as he'd like to pry even further, her past wasn't important enough to warrant it. Besides, it was already obvious enough. After thinking it over, he decided to ask his final question.

"The day before you ran into the trap, what were you two doing?"

There was some obvious apprehension as Clementine thought hardly about her answer, deciding to just come out and say it. The longer she took to answer would just make him even more suspicious. "We were fishing, mostly. Other than that, just looking for a place to spend the night."

Marlon stopped, for a moment. Looking behind his shoulder as if giving some sort of signal. It lasted for a brief moment before he looked back towards the girl sitting down. Without a word, he took a step back. "Wait, I-" The door slammed shut as she was cut off, sending a cold tingle down her spine before darkness yet again consumed the room. Clementine's eyes widened in confusion, was that his way of calling her a liar? She balled up her fists as she got to her feet, absolutely fuming.

"I answered your stupid questions!" She bellowed at the door, raising her foot as it collided against it, sending a shockwave of soreness up her leg, but she didn't care. Not anymore. Clem booted the door, again… and again, as hard as she could, before she finally let out a pained shriek.

Clementine was beginning to accept that her fate was sealed as soon as she got caught in that trap, now she was here, alone. Having exhausted all her other options, the cold hard truth was that she couldn't get out of it this time. Her only hope was that they would at least show AJ a sliver of mercy for her mistakes. _Please, just don't hurt him._ She repeated over and over in her mind, trying to convince herself that it was a fact.

The girl slumped backwards, still panting from her outburst, sliding down the wall as she assumed her position in defeat. There she sat, squeezing her eyes shut and tucking away her face into her knees, the room once again falling silent.

* * *

Author's Notes: Just wanted to throw a big thanks out there for all those that reviewed, I was surprised to see the relatively positive reception towards how Louis was introduced. Since he does come off as a bit of a snarky asshole I'm glad he was still somewhat likeable for people. Now we're starting to see some of the other boarding school characters come into the field of play, so we'll see how that progresses next chapter : )


	3. Blackraven

Whatever semblance of time Clementine had been keeping track of completely dissipated, the room so shrouded in silence, all she could make out was the soft ringing in her ears. The girl had been effectively shut out by Marlon, in complete isolation. She wasn't sure if he thought she was bullshitting him, or if there was some other reason for keeping her there. All she knew was that it felt like she'd been in there for an eternity... but how long had it actually been? A few hours, maybe?

Maybe he wasn't coming back? Some elaborate hoax to get her inside a cell without a fight, get her alone and separated from AJ so they could take advantage and try to suck out as much information as they could from him. The only unresolved question that had the pit of her stomach spinning was that she didn't know the extent of the lengths they'd go to get that information, and if that involved hurting AJ.

Footsteps, finally. She was quickly jolted out of her morbid thoughts by the soft thump of boots creaking against the wooden floorboards, causing her head to shoot upwards. It wasn't long until the door gave way to a soft click, light being the first thing to reach her eyes. Her tied wrists instinctively rose to cover her face as she squinted, attempting to adjust to the sudden change.

Her eyes then darted towards the silhouette standing at the door. It was Marlon again. This time an object gleamed in his right hand, its serrated end coupled with the silver complexion being unmistakable. He was holding a knife.

Clementine squirmed at the sight, shuffling backwards as the dodgy-looking kid advanced towards her. She contemplated kicking him, trying to shove past him… getting the knife. However, much to her surprise, the boy knelt down and grabbed the rope that bound her hands together, and… he actually began to slowly cut away at the rope in between her wrists, causing the rope-like cuffs restricting her to loosen in response.

After a brief moment of silence, Clementine stared at him while he continued to cut away at her wrist binds. "Why?" She croaked out warily, probably coming off as ungrateful, but in her mind he, still couldn't be trusted.

There was silence. Marlon's gaze didn't raise from her hands, though his eyes seemed to glaze over, as if he was trying to contemplate some kind of retort. Nonetheless, he continued to cut through the last parts of the rope entangled around the girl's wrists. Clementine continued to glare at him, allowing him to do so as she waited for a response.

"Because you guys aren't lying. Your kid had the same answers when we asked." Marlon finally responded, almost like he was grateful for it, a tinge of a regret in his tone. "I know I was a prick before, but I couldn't take any risks. Sorry."

Something was different in his demeanor, he sounded a lot more relaxed this time around.

And with that, Clementine was finally released from her binds as they fell to the floor. She steadily got to her feet, warily eyeing off the boy in front of her as she rubbed her wrists, a slight pause before she spoke, squinting her eyes. "What happens now?"

"Guess I'll take you to go see the kid. C'mon."

Marlon stepped aside, gesturing his head outwards, allowing her to finally walk out of the cramped room. She was greeted with a long hallway that stretched all the way down, fixed with some kind of carpet overlay. Whatever this place was, it looked pretty old-fashioned. And big. Clementine looked both left and right cautiously, almost as if expecting some kind of ambush.

"Well, we ain't got all day," Marlon spoke rather impatiently as he brushed past Clementine, expecting her to follow as he began to make his way down the corridor.

The girl watched him walk onwards for a moment, considering her options. Being crammed in that room and then suddenly getting her freedom so quickly left her flustered. Although she supposed she should listen… for now. Making up her mind she slowly made her way to his side, trailing behind slightly.

"Did you guys shove _him_ in some room too?" She spoke with a tinge of hostility whilst she followed along, eyeing off the back of his head. The thought of him alone and probably frightened was enough to infuriate her, and if there was even one scratch on him-

"We didn't, actually. No." Marlon bit back defensively, feeling the girl's ice-cold stare from behind him as they walked. "The kid's in the courtyard, already making new friends. He's a trooper."

 _New friends?_ Hearing that alone was enough to get Clementine to raise her eyebrow in suspicion. Had Louis not been pulling her leg, then? Was this actually a place where only kids were allowed? It sounded like one of the books she'd be reading out to AJ, not something she could just believe straight up. She found herself having to question it right then and there.

"So, where the hell are we?" It was blunt and rude, but it was more of an act of curiosity if anything.

Marlon seemingly couldn't quite tell if she was angry at him, or if her social skills were just plain bad. Maybe it was both.

"Hope you liked school." He swiveled his head around until he could see her from the corner of his eye, a small grin.

" _This_ is a school?" Clementine spat out, her attitude screaming skeptical.

"Boarding school." He corrected with a curt nod. "At least, that's what it used to be."

"And _you're_ the only leader?"

"Yep, that'd be me."

This was so bizarre. Marlon didn't even look that much older than her. As far as she was concerned, teenagers weren't really the ones people would turn to for a leader. It just wasn't how things worked in her old groups, unless-

"No adults here to do it?"

The boy scoffed at the question, a smirk creeping up on his lips as he shook his head, recounting the events.

"None left to lead, a lot of the teachers booked it from here in the early days. Had families of their own that were more important to get back to." Disregard emanated from his tone, Clementine being able to pick up on a tinge of resentment there.

"So we had to make a go of it alone. A few of us were here before the corpses started walking around. Some came after… but we managed without adults so far, and that's what we're gonna keep doing. It's why we don't let them anywhere near us. We've had nothing but bad experiences with'em".

There was no doubt about it… Clementine was sure that Marlon kid must've been there even before the walkers started popping up. When she was younger, Clem remembered hearing white noise about the concept of boarding schools. The idea was enough to get her stomach to churn, it was already enough of a chore having to go to school, even if she did used to miss it. But actually _living_ there? No damn way. It looked like they had zero tolerance for adults being around, which at least explained why they were so damn paranoid about being followed back home.

It was at that moment that a small silhouette turned the corner at the end of the corridor, almost bumping into them. Clementine's features quickly brightened at the sight, but dampened just as quick at the realization that the figure wasn't AJ. The young boy had darker skin, and was taller than AJ. Maybe a couple of years older too.

"Woah, Ten? Thought you'd be outside?" Marlon stopped in his tracks, seemingly taken off guard by the sight.

Clementine came to a halt, soon noticing that something wasn't quite right with the kid's appearance. The right side of his face bore horrible burns, a creased pink color permeating the space just above his eye. The teen forced herself not to stare, averting her gaze to the side so she wouldn't seem rude.

Ten stopped in his tracks, his head swung low, staring at his feet, hand holding his other arm, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"I was… Just came in t - to get my things and head back out." Ten responded dryly, a sense of shyness being projected from the kid.

"You're looking for Violet, aren't you?" He crossed his arms, rolling his eyes with a sigh. A smirk yet again appearing on the older boy's face.

"I wanted to see if she needed help with the watch patrol."

"Alright, well, as long as she agrees. How's AJ doing?" Marlon questioned, brow raised.

"Oh, the one who's with the-" His glance found Clementine, halting his speech as he laid eyes on her, quickly looking back to his feet nervously. "The others are showing him around."

"Good." Marlon then turned towards Clementine, signalling her onwards towards the door at the end of the hallway. With a twist of the knob, he opened it, strolling out first as Clementine followed. Ten almost excitedly jogged past the door and ran towards the courtyard, seemingly intent on catching up to Violet.

Clementine noticed Marlon waiting near the door behind her, seemingly observing her reaction to the place. The girl's eyes widened in their sockets as the outdoor area of the courtyard was now in full view. She could spot out several kids in the distance going about their daily business and strolling around. A lot of them looked around her age, some younger… but Louis had been telling the truth, there really were only kids in this place.

 _There's… no way._ She pondered, eyes still nearly popping out of her head as she took a few steps forward, observing her surroundings. Her eyes immediately trailed towards the largest building in the middle of the courtyard, four pillars holding up the front deck along with some stairs leading upwards. It looked pretty weathered, and a lot of the windows also seemed to be boarded up. The whole place was untouched, apart from the well-fortified fencing that stretched around the area. Patches of overgrowth and greenery stemmed from a lot of the buildings, and it didn't look like a place anybody would be living in, let alone bother searching, but maybe that was the point.

"You've been... surviving out there for a while, huh?" Marlon made his way to her side, noticing how perplexed she was acting. "I mean, that's what it looks like. We don't really see people our age alone, in the wild."

Clementine turned over towards Marlon, frown lines appearing on her forehead. The teen's tone near accusatory. "You sound surprised, like you think I _can't_ take care of myself."

Marlon shot her a lighthearted glance, near apologetic. "With the ass whooping you dished out on Louis, that's the last thing I'd think. Didn't mean to come off like that... sorry. I was tryna say, it's actually pretty cool."

He began to walk again, leading her through the courtyard, her eyes slanting whilst she continually checked her peripherals. The daunting notion of being in a new area alone was enough to put her on edge.

The duo approached what seemed to be an area near the middle of the courtyard. Clementine zeroed in on an odd sight, some of the kids jumping around. She took notice of some pieces of chalk on the ground, some squares having been drawn along with numbers…

 _Are they… playing hopscotch?_

Before the girl could take any of it in, she heard a voice she could never forget cheerfully yell out from behind her.

"Clem!"

She turned around, shock quickly followed by joy overwhelming her as AJ sprinted towards her. Without a second thought, she ran towards him, both of them meeting in the middle. She dropped to her knees, pulling him into her arms.

Clementine let out a sigh of relief as she pulled away, starting to check him over for scars or bruises.

"Are you, okay? Did they-" She stammered out, concern starting to take over by instinct, before she was interrupted.

"No. I was just out here waiting for you… they were teaching me to play while you were away. What took you so long?"

"I had to… sort some things out, but I'm here now." It wasn't a proper explanation, but it was enough to at least elicit a reassuring smile from him.

"This place is so big, they were showing me around before. There's even a library!" AJ was eager to fill her in, barely being able to contain his excitement.

The feeling wasn't so mutual with Clementine, right now all she could think about was asking Marlon about where the nearest exit was.

"Listen, AJ… we're probably gonna have to get go-"

"Don't mean to shove in here but-" Her response was interrupted by the apparent leader of the boarding school, who had been standing there waiting for them to reunite before butting in. "I was going to say..." He trailed off, stopping momentarily, as if he was deeply considering what he was going to say before he did so, eventually he came out with it. "You two look like you could use a break."

"What do you mean?" Clementine stood up, eyebrow raised, holding AJ's hand as he stood by her side now.

"I mean, I'm willing to offer you our facilities here, for however long you need… repayment for the whole trap mix-up thing, if you get me."

"That sounds great!" AJ spoke up, practically answering before Clementine could even get a word in.

"AJ." She frowned, looking down at him with a disapproving gaze before sending a stern glance towards Marlon.

She still didn't trust them. Even if Louis _was_ telling the truth, her whole interaction with these people had left nothing but a sour taste in her mouth. Her past mistakes kept calling out to her, urging her to take the kid and leave as soon as possible.

"Not even just _one_ night? Please?" AJ begged in a hushed tone so Marlon wouldn't hear him, tugging at Clementine's sleeve. "We actually _found_ others. And they're not bad, for once."

Clementine wanted to be stern about it, to tell him that her mind was made up, but the way those eyes of his locked onto her own, longing for her approval... it made it all the more difficult. It would've been a lot easier had her mind already been made up.

It wasn't.

The fact of the matter was, as much as Clementine had been pretending in front of AJ, they hadn't been doing so well on supplies, food especially, for a while now. Each passing night only brought the same thoughts, second-guessing herself. Was the solitary lifestyle sustainable for the long term? Was it one that he deserved? These were only a couple of the many questions that plagued her mind every day. She was starting to think there might not be a choice. The whole reason why she put AJ in danger was because of how desperate she was to take that bag of supplies, who's to say that situation could come around again if she stayed on the road? That guilt continued to eat away at her, wishing their situation wasn't so dire.

She looked away, shaking her head, and after giving herself a moment to properly think, she turned her attention towards Marlon. Not exactly warm on the idea, but not ruling his offer out entirely either.

"And what's the catch? There's gotta be one, right?" She asked, suspicion in her tone.

"The catch is: just don't expect a free ride. If you're going to hang around, I'd expect you guys to help out just as much as the others here would. Kids are safe here. We make sure of it."

Clementine was still mulling over the fact that she was on shaky terms at best with everyone she'd met here so far, and if they were to stay, it'd probably be really awkward. Nonetheless, she refrained from speaking, continuing to eye him off.

"Look," Marlon sighed out irritably, pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. "We'll even give you half of what we get on our next supply run, I'd say that puts us well on even terms. But only if you come with us."

"When is it?" The mention of more supplies had caused the girl's head to prick up slightly.

"I'm taking a crew out tomorrow morning."

Marlon's proposition had Clementine gritting her teeth, not because it was a bad deal, but more so because it'd practically force her to stay the night there with AJ. Something she obviously wasn't very keen on.

 _We get what we're owed and then get out. Simple, right?_

Clem averted her gaze back to Marlon, her eyes locking onto his, not at all happy with the decision she'd come to terms with. The proposition of possibly getting more supplies was ultimately too much of an opportunity to pass up.

" _One_ night." Clementine deadpanned, her tone almost threatening. "Then in the morning, after that run, we're leaving."

"Suit yourself." Marlon shrugged, probably knowing she was too stubborn to come to a different conclusion.

* * *

After being led to their room for the night, she let AJ explore a little bit outside and talk with the other kids under her supervision. Clementine herself remained fairly reclusive, not wanting to really interact, not until she had to go on that run tomorrow morning. Nevertheless, it wasn't long before the sky had gotten dark, and the duo had traveled back to their room. It was getting late, the noises of everyone going about their daily jobs finally came to die down.

"Time for bed, little guy." Clementine closed the door behind her as the two of them strolled into their designated room. The only source of light was the lit candle in her hand and the various other ones that lit up in the room. A large bunk bed was in the corner, and the windows in the room were also boarded up. It didn't really make for a nice view, but it was safe, at least.

"Can I stay up?" AJ swiveled around to face her, trying his luck.

"Nope." Clementine shot him an amused smile, shaking her head. _Not today._

" _Two_ more minutes." The boy pouted, attempting to bargain.

"Tell you what..." She turned around, setting the candle down on a desk that was in the middle of the room. By now, she knew how to get around this. "You lie down, and then we'll see."

"Okay…"

AJ reluctantly made his way to the bed on the bottom of the bunk, taking off his shoes as he clambered onto it, making sure he was under the covers. Finally, his head was on the pillow, though his eyes were still wide open. Today, she couldn't blame him. It'd been a lot to take in, and everything he'd seen probably had him excited still. Clementine made her way over to him, sitting down on the edge of the bed to keep him company, at least until he got tired.

"I like it here…" AJ spoke up softly, his gaze remaining towards the bunk above him, seemingly in a trance. "It's nice, after doing so much running away…"

"Do _you_ like it?" He asked her curiously, perhaps hopeful that she wouldn't want to run away from here either.

Clementine's soft gaze settled on the boy, her hands on her lap now, resisting the urge to twiddle her thumbs. She didn't want to crush his hopes, or ruin his excitement, but every group seemed great at first… he hadn't been around long enough to realize just how dangerous things could get when you were with too many people. Trying to tell him that on the other hand… was easier said than done.

"We'll have a roof over our heads tonight, at least." She twisted her lips, looking away from him so he wouldn't see her apparent uncertainty. It was about the only positive thing she could say.

It wasn't really the answer he was looking for, but he'd take it.

"They've got games… and everyone's been nice to me so far. I've even seen someone around my age too." AJ began to list off in awe.

"Yeah, it's a change...seeing so many people." Clementine added, she supposed it was nice that he'd get to enjoy himself a bit, even if she was a thorough supporter of them leaving as soon as they could.

"Louis said he was sorry, while you were away. He even let me listen to some of his music on that MP3 player thingy of his. There were some swear words on it..."

"He shouldn't have done that." Her tone reeked of disapproval, trying to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"It wasn't _that_ bad. Besides, I hear you swear all the time."

"No, you don't." Clementine grinned embarrassingly, playfully nudging his leg with her elbow, which managed to garner a small chuckle from the boy.

It went silent again, Clementine trying to hold onto her smile but ultimately falling short as she once again averted her gaze to the candle on the desk, watching the flame slowly flicker before AJ broke the silence, his voice softer now, as if he was succumbing to his grogginess.

"Are you going to that thing they invited you to tonight?" He asked curiously, obviously he wanted to come with her and hang out with the older kids, but Clementine much preferred for him to just rest tonight, they probably weren't the right company for him to keep, and she'd made that much clear earlier.

"I've been thinking about it... I don't know." Clementine sighed, spite in her tone. Marlon had expressed his desire for her to get to know some of the other kids before they went out tomorrow, pre-plan a route they were going to take for the run. The hostility she'd expressed towards most of them coupled with her general lack of will to socialize tonight had her frustrated.

"I think you should." AJ yawned, Clementine slightly taken off guard at the suggestion. It still surprised her how open and trustworthy he was to others… even after everything they'd seen on the road. Maybe he wanted her to see what he saw in this place, or maybe try to get to know the others so they wouldn't have to leave. It was optimistic as ever.

 _And who used to be like that, huh?_ The girl mentally jabbed herself.

"I… guess I can try." She didn't want someone knocking on the door and waking AJ up, asking if she was coming, it'd be better to avoid that by just sucking it up and going.

"It might be fun."

"Alright kiddo, time for you to rest up, we've had a long day." She considered that to be an understatement.

"Fine…" The boy sighed out, trying to make himself comfortable under the sheets. It wasn't long before he assumed a comfortable position, finally closing his eyes. "Night, Clem."

"Night, goofball." Clementine quietly replied, before leaning over and lifting the blanket up to his shoulders, tucking him in slightly, just to make sure he was snugged in.

After all was said and done, Clementine quietly got up from the bed. Making her way towards the middle of the room where she'd set the candle down on the desk. She slumped down into the chair, taking off her hat before placing it on her lap.

She was a wreck, physically and emotionally… this whole day had pushed her to her limits and beyond. Her main feeling was relief, but the thought of having almost lost him had her reeling. If they'd been caught today by a group like Howe's… what could she have done? The answer in her head wasn't at all good. They were just lucky this boarding school crew seemed to be relatively okay, at least towards other kids. But there was no way to know for sure yet… unless she actually followed AJ's advice and got to know them.

Clementine had already told him she'd give it a shot, so there really was no backing out of it. Honestly, she saw no point in going, seemings as though they would be leaving tomorrow morning anyway. However, she supposed since she was going on a run tomorrow, maybe it would benefit her if she saw who she'd be working with.

It wasn't that she was scared of them or anything, but the whole concept of trying to make conversation with other kids had her shifting in her seat, not to mention her obvious trust issues with the lot of them. Roughly ten minutes passed, Clementine's eyes fanning over to the door every minute or so. Why was she so nervous about this? The time had come where she had to force herself to make a decision about it.

 _Damn it..._

* * *

The moonlight did little to creep through the windows, seemings as the plasterboards they'd nailed up against them prevented that. Candles provided the light they needed at night, set up all around the place in which Marlon had converted into a meeting room of sorts. A large table was at the corner of the room, littered with maps of the area, various places highlighted that they had yet to scavenge. Violet and Marlon had been occupied with sorting that out.

Louis paid no mind to it. Only reason he even showed up was for the piano he'd grown to love. Having already taken his seat at the large instrument, his fingers began to methodically strum each key in accordance to the notes from the old music book he had in front of him.

"Hey, can you cut that shit out." A voice nagging from the corner of his ear forced him to stop. It was Marlon's, of course.

"What now?" Louis frustratingly swiveled around from his chair, facing him.

"We're hashing out a plan for the run tomorrow, and I can't hear myself think with that damn piano busting my balls." Marlon snapped back.

"I thought we were waiting for Clementine." The boy spoke up, eyebrow raised.

Violet crossed her arms as she spoke up, a rather presumptuous tone in her voice. "I wouldn't bother. Doesn't even look like she's coming anyway." It was quite clear to Louis that she didn't want the new girl here anyway.

"Violet's right, that girl's stubborn. No point in waiting." Marlon concurred.

"Not like she's staying after tomorrow anyway." The blonde girl squinted her eyes, averting her gaze to the wall next to her.

 _Here they go again_ , the dynamic duo teaming up against him. Granted, a lot of the times they were right for doing that, but this time Louis figured they weren't. He was onto something here.

"I think I can get her to come around." The would-be musician spoke up nonchalantly, eyeing off the two of them.

"Pfft, yeah. Good luck with that. Trust me, I tried." Marlon scoffed, shaking his head.

"Think about it. When was the last time we saw a kid our age out here? She could be useful." Louis persisted with the idea.

"Better to send her packing before they get too comfortable. I still don't trust her. That kid of hers was already trying to get all chummy with Ten earlier." Violet wasn't having any of it, not after everything they'd done to make sure this place was secure.

"So what? That pipsqueak probably needs a friend anyway. All he does now is stare at those damn graves every night. It's creepy."

"Don't joke about that, you dick." The blonde took a single step forward, balling up her fists, her teeth gritting, dumbfounded by how insensitive he could be sometimes.

"It's true, though." He shrugged at her.

"Alright, alright. Quit it." Marlon decided to intervene, but Violet was done, already brushing past him as she stormed towards the door with a sour look on her face, leaving the room before disappearing down the corridor.

Louis chuckled after the fact, looking up at Marlon and grinning. "I think that's a new record."

"Are you fucking five?" He grumbled, crossing his arms at him. "You want more time to play with your stupid thing? Fine. But we're coming back." The rowdy-looking one turned his back on Louis, heading towards the door as the room soon again fell silent.

He had a moment of peace now, but he didn't know for how much longer. _Maybe just enough for one more song_. Louis swiveled back around on his chair, his feet now positioned under the piano. His fingers started moving again as he continued tapping away at the keys, eager to just let his mind drift for a bit.

* * *

 _Where did he say it was, bottom floor, room on the far right?_ Clementine mulled over her thoughts, strolling through the deserted corridor. If anyone was awake, maybe she could ask for directions, but it looked like everyone had already gone to bed. The place was like a damn maze, and she sure as hell didn't want to leave AJ alone in the room for too long.

Just when she considered calling it quits and heading back to their room, Clem swore she'd heard something coming from the last room at the very end. It sounded pretty close to unnerving at first, a sound that had become unfamiliar to her ears after so long.

 _Is someone playing… piano?_

Clementine was sure of it, her head tilting down the corridor, her brows furrowed. Slowly yet steadily she crept towards the noise, and the closer she got, the more recognizable it became. The melody was loud enough to echo out into the hallway. As the girl made it to the doorway, she leaned over and peeked into the room. It was none other than Louis sitting there, seemingly entranced by the melody as he continued to play the tune on the old-fashioned piano.

He might've been a condescending prick, but Clementine had to admit... he knew how to play. _Is this even the right room?_ It had to be… since every other room was either locked up or dead silent. _I should probably-_

"I can see you." Her thoughts were abruptly cut short by the sound of Louis' voice. He'd spotted her staring. _Shit…_ The girl took a step forward, now standing in the doorway as she came into full view.

"Marlon told me there was a meeting somewhere." Her expression was stagnant, the girl spitting out an excuse, immediately regretting her decision to come down there.

The boy turned around on his seat to face her, that same antagonistic smirk creeping up on his face. She couldn't tell if he was trying to be confrontational or friendly.

"You found the right room. Just waiting on em' to get back. Make yourself at home."

Clementine shifted her weight to her other foot, looking around the room as if trying to scan every little detail. Louis just found it to be weird. It went quiet for a moment before he spoke again.

"Unless you think I got another trap in here…"

"I don't know. _You_ tell me." Clem crossed her arms, squinting her eyes at the boy who'd pretty much made her walker bait earlier today.

"Listen, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry before you chill out?"

"More than none."

"I…" Louis stuttered, his usual bravado giving into the fact that she was right this time around. "Y'know what? Forget it." He sighed out in his seat, turning his back on the girl.

Clementine was taken off-guard, because for once he didn't have something smart to say back. Was he actually sorry? Or just trying to fuck with her again? After a brief pause, she rolled her eyes, giving into the silence before strolling into the room. She'd have to wait for the rest to get there regardless… so she picked her seat at the desk which was well away from Louis, the chair's legs grinding against the wooden floor when she turned it outwards to face him before finally taking her seat. Silence filled the room again.

"If you got something to say, then say it."

"How about this. Because of my trap, you're getting free supplies tomorrow. It's like… probably the best thing that's happened to you all week." Louis retorted, probably thinking it was true, even if he did seem to be kind of kidding.

"Ha. Funny." She answered back in the dryest tone she could form. "You obsessed with always being an asshole?"

"Not as obsessed as I am with this piano." He grinned, patting the lid of the instrument.

"I know, I could hear you from a mile away."

"I just figured... we all gotta carry over something from the old world, so why not music?"

"Sounds like a pretty risky hobby."

"Why's that?"

"It's a lot of damn noise, don't you think?"

"Well, that's what the walls are for, Clementine."

She turned her head away from him, a sour look smeared across her demeanour.

 _Yeah, and you trust those walls to stay up?_ She felt like spitting back, but held her tongue. Was making conversation always this… confrontational? Or was she being too aggressive? It'd been so long that she couldn't even tell.

"How'd you even learn to play like that, anyway?"

"Oh, curious are we? Didn't know I had a fan."

"That's a stretch." The girl mumbled under her breath.

Louis let out a small laugh, seemingly taking joy out of her jab at him. He adjusted his position now, interlocking his fingers with both of his hands as his elbows rested on his knees.

"I had a strict teacher when I was a little. Piano class three times a week… three-thirty to four-thirty after class. Was a drag at first, but I ended up kinda digging it. Stuck with me even after everything fell apart. Obviously, I had a lot of time to catch up on practice, too." She didn't sense that tinge of snark usually present in his voice anymore, his eyes trailing off to his feet. She could tell he was thinking about it, that it wasn't bullshit.

"You ever play?" The question he asked caught her off guard, her head jolting towards him.

Clementine scoffed at the thought. "One time… in music class. I was horrible."

The boy chuckled in response, before looking down at his hands yet again, seemingly mulling over something. It was then that he asked a question she wasn't exactly prepared for.

"You wanna try?" He asked, gesturing his head over to the piano behind him.

"What?" Her voice croaked, unable to tell if she'd heard him right. "No, it's fine." She spoke faintly, shuffling in her seat. Looking away.

Louis groaned, getting off his seat as he made way, leaning on the side of the piano, offering her the seat. "C'mon. This is a once in a lifetime chance. When's the next time you're gonna see a piano?"

She didn't answer him straight away, awkwardly glaring at the contraption beside him. Trying to decide between the voice in her head yelling at her to stay put, and her hopeless curiosity towards giving it a try. The invitation was ultimately too tempting to turn down.

"Okay…"

Her eyes trailed over to the keyboard, slowly making her way towards the old piano. Immediately taking notice of some sort of label encased on the wood. ' _Blackraven._ ' She read out in her head, before assuming her position in the seat, various black and white keys that she could hardly remember how to operate.

"So, what do I do?" She finally asked the boy beside her, a hint of confusion riddled across her face.

"Alright, let's start simple. Hands in this position." Louis leaned over, placing his right hand on five of the keys. "C.C.G.G….. A.A.A.A.G" He spoke evenly, pressing each individual key slowly, playing a small tune that Clementine instantly recognized.

"Baa Baa Black Sheep?" Clementine looked up at him, raising a brow in near amusement.

"Damn right it is. You don't got anything against that song, right? It's a classic."

"No, it's just… haven't heard that one in a while."

"Well, your time to shine. You have the floor."

Clementine placed her hand on the exact keys as instructed. Now came the hard part. Pressing down on all the keys in precise timing, a process that had her brain all muddled up.

"Uh… like this?" _C.C.G.G_ She repeated in her mind, hopefully it'd just… flow out. The first four notes surprisingly formed the first part of the tune, resulting in something that wasn't a complete disjointed mess, even if she was a little slower. _Woah…_

 _Alright, now the other notes._

Starting with the first A, she gently but firmly pushed down on the key, producing a soft hum that echoed through the room. However this time she overestimated her speed, rushing it slightly. The first four notes came out in quick succession, unfortunately, the last note resulted in her finger sliding outwards and accidentally hitting the wrong key… the tune blaring out in a contorted mess that was super obvious, causing Clementine's lips to twist into a pout. _Yeesh..._

She looked over to Louis, who let out a large hiss through his teeth… wincing in an over exaggerated manner. "Ooft. My ears."

"Shut up, " Clementine smirked, perhaps enjoying this piano thing more than she cared to admit. Although, she wasn't about to let Louis see that, quickly adjusting her gaze to her hands.

"Seriously though. With some more practice, I reckon you'd be pretty kickass." Louis' comment once again took her off guard. It sounded an awful lot like he was suggesting she should stay… Of course, she could just be overthinking it.

"It's too bad I-"

"Oh. You're finally here." Before she could even finish her sentence another voice cut her off. It was loud… and didn't sound at all impressed. She looked over to see that stern looking girl from earlier today. _Violet… I think._ The blonde called out in an over-exaggerated tone as she butted in. The other teen was leaned up against the door, her arms crossed. Clementine didn't have a clue how long she was watching, but instinctively rose to her feet, almost as a defence mechanism.

"Great, we can get started then." Marlon's echoed from behind her, strolling into the room, making a beeline for the back desk as he slammed down an old-looking directory on it. "Everyone get your seats."

"Took your time," Violet commented, eyes locked onto Clementine. The girl delivering her a harsh scowl, walking past her before making her way to take a seat at the table.

Clementine decided to hold her tongue. Brushing off the comment, Louis seemed to take notice of it too, looking at Clementine awkwardly as he delivered her a simple shrug. The both of them headed for the table as they all began to take their seats.

"Brody gave me a rundown on that Lodge near the bypass, still quiet. Now that we got an extra set of hands, I think we can pull it off."

"And what are we pulling off, exactly?" Clementine directed her attention to Marlon, hoping to know exactly what she was getting into.

"This place we scouted out a few weeks back. It's a fucking goldmine. Problem is it's rigged with a shitload of traps."

"Not yours?" Clem questioned.

"Not ours."

"We've been watching over it for a while. Whoever put it there's long gone. Similar setup to what we had… but instead of getting strung up, one misstep and a boulder's coming down on your head. There's a lot of them around the building." Marlon explained, fingers trailing over the outline of the map.

"Great. So I'm live bait pretty much?" Clementine sighed out. It was now no secret she wasn't at all pleased with how unsafe it sounded.

"You'll be fine, we just need someone to watch our backs while we cut 'em down. The noise brings deadheads. Violet, I'm pairing you up with Clementine on this one… can you guys handle that?" Marlon pressed both of his hands up on the desk, leaning forward, swapping his gaze between the two of them.

"Last thing I need is to get partnered up with someone that doesn't know their right foot from their left out there. Just don't expect me to carry your weight." Violet leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms once again.

"I've always taken care of myself." Clem's eye twitched, trying to keep a straight face at the apparent third degree. Her message was loud and clear: she considered her dead weight, and _oh_ how much Clementine did not like that one bit.

"Hell, I believe her." Louis was quick to intervene, the reasoning behind his statement being obvious. They'd all seen how he'd been outmaneuvered by her when they first met. It should go without saying.

"It's settled then. Clementine and Violet on deadhead duty, while the rest of us deal with the traps."

"And our deal?"

"Half of whatever we find, like I said before. No more, no less."

As the four teenagers conversed about tomorrow's run, a fifth party had been listening in. Although not the type Clementine may had been expecting, failing to see the dog that had wandered into the room so casually, not being able to recognise the new person among them. Rosie made her way behind Clementine, who hadn't seen her yet.

Just as Clem was about to open her mouth, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest, she felt something nudge her side, and then a paw brushing up against her leg. She froze and her eyes widened, hearing the familiar sound of heavy panting that she remembered all too well. The girl let out a gasp in response and jumped out of her seat, backing away from the large hulk-like dog that had somehow snuck up behind her.

"Woah, what's the problem?" Marlon rose out of his seat, the reaction from Clementine seeing his dog not something he could predict. It was out of the ordinary.

"Call it away!" Clementine yelled out in a panic, Rosie let out a friendly bark in response, only serving to frighten the girl more.

"What?" Marlon scowled at her in confusion.

"Calm down, it's just Rosie... She's-" Louis didn't even get a chance to speak before Clementine cut him off, yelling at them again.

"I said call it away!" The girl's breathing increased rapidly, now in fear of the massive dog, placing her hand on the side of her belt as she contemplated withdrawing her knife.

"Rosie. Come!" Marlon called out, pointing at his feet. Rosie tilted her head over to her apparent owner, beckoning to his call as she ran over to Marlon's side, sniffing his pants as Marlon grabbed her by the collar to stop her from running back to Clementine.

"Looks like we gotta keep an eye on the pets now." Violet was now standing up, however, not seeming to be as concerned. In fact, she seemed more amused than anything. Shrugging at Louis and Marlon, as it only further served to justify her suspicions about this new girl.

"What's wrong with you?" Marlon snarled at the girl, taking notice that she almost withdrew her knife on his dog, not at all being able to comprehend how someone could even do something like that.

"Maybe keep it on a fucking leash, that's what's wrong!" Clementine yelled back, her tone like venom. It was then that a lump formed in her throat, only now being able to realize her actions… and her outburst. The room fell silent, and Clem's face went white in sheer embarrassment. Knowing she wouldn't be able to explain it… nor did she want to.

"I…" The girl croaked out, trying to offer some sort of apology. Everyone was looking at her like she was some kind of maniac… and the worst part was, she couldn't blame them. Clementine's gaze averted to her feet, head hung low as she stormed past all of them, heading out of the room.

"Clementine… it's no big dea-" She saw Louis outstretch his hand as if to stop her from leaving the room, however his voice was abruptly cut off as she slammed the door. Leaving the room dead silent with three very confused teenagers.

"What the fuck just happened?" Marlon looked to his companions, then back down to Rosie, who was looking up at him excitedly.

"I… don't know, she just freaked." Louis looked towards the door, bewildered.

"You guys figure it out. I'm not the one that decided to let her roam free around here." Violet spoke in a judgemental tone, seemingly disengaged from whatever had just transpired.

* * *

Clementine could feel her chest thumping rapidly, she needed air… and after storming out of the room she found herself on the veranda at the entry of the building. It was a mistake… going down there. It was better for her to just stay away… better for them too. Her hands gripped the front of the railing, leaning forward against it as she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to calm herself down.

It was stupid, after all they had been through today…of course the freaking pet was the thing to frighten her. Her unwavering paranoia from the last experience she had with a dog… it was enough to make her flip out. She thought it was going okay there for a moment… interacting with other people again. However, it was a thorough wake up call that she just wasn't ready to try again, nor did she need to. The next morning would be her last one here, and after Marlon made good with his deal on giving her supplies, she'd be gone. It was for the best.

* * *

Author's notes: This one took a while to come out, so I thought I'd make it a bit chunkier for you guys. Again, thank you to all that have left a comment thus far. And a massive thanks to my buddies Art and Dot yet again for beta reading, it's been helping me a tonne. The recent TFS teaser has me hyped and I can't wait to see how Clem interacts with the boarding school characters there. Just a heads up, I have been considering waiting until the first episode has released so I have more content to go ahead and write with and get a better idea of the new character's personalities. Of course it wont just be episode 1 word for word, but it always helps to have a base idea to write around. This story was pretty much revolving around Clem's first interaction with the boarding school, with that now out of the way and with the release of the first episode, after I play it I'll have a better idea if I should continue the story.

Regardless, I'll see you all again soon : )


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